Electrical Measurements and Measuring

Instruments
K. Natarajan
I. INTRODUCTION
The act of measuring a physical quantity changes the value of the quantity. Understanding the
source of such errors and correcting as far as possible for such errors is a goal of the course. What to
look for in instruments so that such errors are reduced inherently is another goal of the course. With
digital instruments, the display end is digital or can be read into a computer, but the measuring end
of the instrument is often the same as before and therefore they are susceptible to the same errors
in measurements. In addition the conversion of the measurement to digital form often involves its
own errors.
II. Units
Fundamental Units are for the physical quantities: Mass (kg), Length (m), Time (s), Current (A),
Temperature ( K ), Light Intensity (cd). The units in brackets are in the SI (MKSA) system which
we shall follow in this course.
Derived units for all other quantities are obtained in terms of the above fundamental units. For
example Charge is current time and therefore 1A 1s or 1 As = 1 Coulomb (abbreviated as C).
III. Measurements
Percent Error: If x denotes the quantity to be measured then percent error is given by

 xtrue



xmeasured 
 100
xtrue

(1)

The trouble with this definition is that xtrue is always unknown. Hence very often instead of xtrue
we use xexpected . Expected value when computed by using mean of the measurements made by one
or many instruments may still be off significantly from true value and this fact should be kept in
mind when selecting expected value to calculate error. The way to overcome this problem is to have
an instrument which is considered a standard and whose readings can be trusted to provide the
expected value against which the instrument in question can be compared. Such is the role of various
standards institutions around the world.
Accuracy of an instrument is defined as how close to true value the instrument reads. It is often
given as percentage by computing 100 percent error. It is also reported as a fraction between 0
and 1 with values closer to 1 indicating a more accurate instrument. Note that since it is based on
percent error which is based on expected value there is some uncertainty in the accuracy numbers
of most instruments.
Precision of an instrument is the ability of the instrument to make consistent measurements of the
quantity of interest. The precision of an instrument at a particular reading xi of a set of readings
of the same quantity with the same instrument is defined as:


x
xi 

1


(2)

x is the average of the set of readings. A highly accurate instrument is highly precise but a precise
instrument need not be accurate.

IV. Rounding, Significant figures, Computation of tolerances

Significant Figures: egs: 12.323 has 5 significant figures. 12.000 has 5 significant figures. 1.3104
has 2 significant figures.1.30104 has 3 significant figures.
Rounding off: 87.346 rounded of to two decimals is 87.35. 87.343 rounded to two decimals is 87.34.
87.345 and 87.355 when rounded off to two decimals are 87.34 and 87.36 respectively. You may adopt
a consistent rounding off procedure for these borderline cases.
Tolerances: usually they are given as percentages on measurements. For eg. 52.130.01% implies
52.130.005213. Very often we make measurements with tolerances and from these measurements we
compute other quantities of interest. The question then is what is the tolerance on such computed
results? The following examples give a basic introduction to such calculations. Tolerance operations
are always carried out for the worst case (i.e. largest tolerance result in each case)
Addition: 52.130.01% + 5.60.10% = 52.130.005213 + 5.60.0056 = 57.730.010813 =
57.730.010813/57.73 100% = 57.730.0187%. Since, percent tolerances were specified only to
two digits after the decimal place the final answer on the tolerance is rounded off to two digits
as 57.73 0.02%. Finally, 5.6 has only one significant digit after the decimal and so the answer is
rounded of also to one digit after the decimal as 57.70.02%.
Subtraction: 52.130.01% - 5.60.1% = 52.130.005213 - 5.60.0056 = 46.530.010813 =
46.530.010813/46.53 100% = 46.530.0232% = 46.5 0.02%
Multiplication: 10.10.1 5.30.2 = 10.10.1100/10.1% 5.30.2100/5.3% = 10.10.9901%
5.33.7736% = 10.1 5.3 (0.9901 + 3.7736)% = 53.534.7637% = 53.54.76%.
Division: 10.10.1 5.3 0.2 = 10.10.1 100/10.1% 5.30.2 100/5.3% = 10.10.9901%
5.33.7736% = 10.1 5.3 (0.9901 + 3.7736)% = 1.90574.7637% = 1.94.76%.
Alternative approaches to computing tolerance on results of mathematical operations exist. The
simplest has been presented above.
V. Errors
Measurement errors can be classified as systematic, random and gross. Systematic errors arise due
to zero error, scale error, response time error, loading error. These can be corrected for. Random
errors arise from the environment, noise and rounding errors. These can be minimized by repeated
measurements, averaging and statistical analysis. Gross errors arise from faulty equipment and human
error and can usually be avoided.
Random errors can be minimized by statistical analysis. The main operation for reduction of
random errors is averaging over repeated measurements. To compute how well the average describes
the set of measurements another number called the standard deviation is calculated on the set of
measurements.
Average of n readings xi , i = 1, 2, ...n (mean, expected value are other names for average) is defined
as:
Pn
xi
(3)
x = i=1
n
The average has the same units as the measurements.
Standard deviation of n readings as before is given by
sP

(xi x)2
(4)
=
n
Note that has the same units as the measurements.
Usually, if a large number of measurements are taken which are affected by random errors and a
histogram is constructed with values on the x-axis and number of times that value occurred on the
y-axis, the curve takes a bell shaped curve which when suitably normalized is called the Gaussian
distribution curve. A plot of such histograms of 10000 measurements with a mean of 5 and a of 1
n
i=1

2
1600

1400

Frequency

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

measurements

Fig. 1.

Histogram of 10000 measurements with a mean of 5 and a =1

1500

Frequency

1000

500

0
10

10

15

20

Measurements

Fig. 2.

Histogram of 10000 measurements with a mean of 5 and a =3

is shown in Fig. 1. In Fig. 2 a histogram of 10000 measurements with a mean of 5 and a of 3 is

shown. Note that the x-axis scales on the two figures are different and if the two figures are overlaid
with the same x-axis scale (as in Fig. 2) then Fig. 1 has a narrower spread around the mean than
Fig. 2.
The significance of , assuming that measurements satisfy a Gaussian distribution, is that 68.3%
of all the measurements will lie between x and x + . Thus roughly 6830 measurements out of
the 10000 measurements will, in Fig 2, lie between measurement values in the range 2 to 8 (5-3 and
5+3 respectively).
VI. Linear Regression
Often we have a set of ordered pair of measurements (xi , yi ), i = 1, 2, ..., n which can be plotted
on a graph paper. Our interest is then often in finding an equation of a line of the type y = mx + c
that best fits this set of ordered pairs. m, c are the slope and y-intercept of the line. The best least
squares fit for such a line is given by
Pn

xi yi ni=1 xi ni=1 yi
m =
P
P
n ni=1 x2i ( ni=1 xi )2
Pn
Pn
i=1 yi m
i=1 xi
c =
n
The coefficient of linear correlation r is given by
n

i=1

Pn

xi yi

Pn

i=1

xi

Pn

i=1 yi
r = nh P
ih P
io0.5
P
P
n ni=1 x2i ( ni=1 xi )2 n ni=1 yi2 ( ni=1 yi )2
i=1

(5)
(6)

(7)

The closer the magnitude of r is to 1, the better the least squares line fits the data. On the other
hand the closer the value of magnitude of r is to 0, the poorer the fit by a straight line to the data.

Higher order polynomial fits can also be carried out using a matrix formulation of the problem.
Alternatively the Matlab function polyfit will compute least squares fit with various user specified
polynomial order.
VII. Example of Least squares line fit:
Measurements of frequency (f ) and the corresponding phase shift (p) of a system are given in
a Table below. It is believed that the phase shift p in radians is related to the frequency f in Hz
by the Equation (8) given below with = 1.42 seconds. d is an unknown constant with units of
seconds.
(8)
p = tan1 (2f ) + 2f d
It is desired to estimate the value of the constant d after testing whether the relationship given by
the above equation holds for the measured data in the Table.

f(Hz)
p (radians)

0.0285 0.0500 0.0740 0.0950 0.1780 0.3850

0.4190 0.6050 0.7450 1.0550 1.7390 2.9600

Solution: Rearranging the above equation as p tan1 (2f ) = 2f d and defining y as the left
hand side of the rearranged equation and f as the x-axis variable, the rearranged equation is of the
form y = mx where m = 2d . Thus if we fit a line to the rearranged equation and compute the
slope, then d can be obtained. The coefficient of linear correlation r will give us the goodness of
the fit. Arranging the calculations in a Table with n = 6 data points provides an efficient way of
computations:
i
1
2
3
4
5
6

xi = f (Hz)
0.0285
0.0500
0.0740
0.0950
0.1780
0.3850
P
0.8105

yi = pi tan1 (2fi ) rads

0.1700
0.1854
0.1615
0.3519
0.7302
1.6725
3.2714

xi yi
xi 2
4.844910( 3) 8.1225104
9.2694103
2.5103
0.0119
5.476103
0.0334
9.025103
0.1300
0.0317
0.6439
0.1482
0.8334
0.1977

yi 2
0.0289
0.0344
0.0261
0.1238
0.5331
2.7972
3.5435

The slope m and coefficient of linear correlation r can now be obtained as:
6 0.8334 0.8105 3.2715
2.3488
= 4.4367rads/Hz
(9)
m =
=
2
6 0.1977 0.8105
0.5294
6 0.8334 0.8105 3.2715
2.3488
r = q
=
= 0.9935 (10)
0.5294 10.5583
[6 0.1977 0.81052 ] [6 3.5435 3.27152 ]
r being close to 1 indicates a good straight line fit to the modified data. While from m = 2d
m
defined earlier, we estimate d = 2
= 0.7061s

VIII. Force on a current carrying conductor in a magnetic flux

The force F N experienced by a charge q C in an electric field E V/m, moving with a velocity
V m/sinamagnetic flux B Wb/m2 is given by the Lorentz force equation as
F = q(E + v B)

(11)

In most applications the E is orthgonal to B with velocity of the charges in the direction of E and
therefore the two components in the force equation are perpedicular to each other. We consider only
the force component due to the magnetic flux below.
For a conductor carrying a current of I A in a magnetic flux B Wb/m2 , the above equation can
be manipulated as follows:
If there are N charges per unit volume each carrying a charge q and moving at a constant velocity
V perpendicular to a cross section A then the current flowing through the cross section is from
(dQ = NqAdl = Idt) given by (with v denoting the magnitude of the velocity v):
I = NqAv

(12)

In a small length dl along the direction of v the force component, due to magnetic flux, experienced
by the charges dF is given by
dF = NqAdlv B = NqAvdl B = Idl B

(13)

Example If a magnetic flux density of 0.01Wb/m2 is maintained in an airgap and a copper wire
of length 1m and diameter 1mm perpendicular to the flux vector is submerged in the gap, find the
current through this conductor to generate a force of 1N. calculate the power dissipation and voltage
drop on the conductor to generate this current if the resistivity of copper is = 1.69 108 -m.
Solution Area of cross section of wire = d2 /4 = 7.8540 104 m2 . Resistance of the wire of length
l and cross section A = R = l/A = 0.0215 . Force of 1N on the conductor = IlB in magnitude =
I 0.01. Hence I = 100A. Power dissipation in the conductor I 2 R = 215W. Voltage drop across the
conductor = IR = 2.15V. Note the current density J = I/A = 1.2732 108 A/m2 = 1.2732 102
A/mm2 .
Typically current density is limited to for example as a simple rule of thumb to a value upto 8A/mm2
(on the high side) and to 2A/mm2 and should be used to revise the wire diameter accordingly.
Alternatively, wire gage and ampacity specifications with appropriate insulation is available from
manufacturers of wire and should be used in such calculations.
IX. Amperes law
The magnetic field strength vector H A/m (At/m) caused by a current I A is given by
Z

H.dl = I

(14)

The magnetic flux density vector B is related to the magnetic field strength vector H by B = H
where is the permeability of the material. is often expressed as r 0 where 0 is the permeability
of vacuum and r is the relative permeability of the material. 0 = 4 107 H/m.
Example: If a 100A current carrying conductor is put into a ferrite toroid with hole diameter of
1cm and outer diameter of 2cm and relative permeability of 200, then find the magnetic flux density
along the circumferential center line of the toroidal core.
Solution: circumferential center line is at a diameter d of 1.5cm (0.015m) and circumference is
I
d = 0.0471m. Using Amperes law H = d
= 2.1221 103 A/m. The flux density B = r 0 H
2
=0.5333Wb/m .

Fig. 3.

Coil in a magnet

X. Basic DC Meter Movement

A coil of wire in a magnet is depicted in the Figure 3 shown below: The force experienced by
one side of the coil is given by BLI while the other side experiences the same force in the opposite
direction. If the coil is allowed to spin then the torque experienced by the coil is given by
T = BLI (2r) = BIA

(15)

If the coil has n turns then the torque is given by nBIA Nm. The basic permanent magnet, moving
coil (PMMC) meter movement can now be contstructed as shown in Figure 4 below, with a spiral
spring to which the pointer is attached opposing the movement of the coil. The angular displacement
is then given by
k = BIA
(16)
where k is the spring constant. Most meter movements are in the 0-50A range with 50A being
the full scale deflection (fsd) of the meter. Meters capable of operating on 1A fsd current and
below are often named galvanometers and have special arrangements for deflection measurements.
Galvanometers are used primarily for sensitive measurements and nulling of current and some
examples of this will be seen later in the course.

Fig. 4.

Basic PMMC movement

XI. Design of DC voltmeters and ammeters with Basic PMMC movement

The basic PMMC movement is characterized by its full scale deflection current (If sd ) and its coil
resistance (RM ). To design a DC voltmeter additional resistance (RS ) is added in series with the
PMMC movement as shown in Fig. 5. If the desired range is VRange , then the series resistance RS

Fig. 5.

Basic DC voltmeter from PMMC movement

is calculated from:
If sd =

VRange
(RS + RM )

(17)

Multirange DC voltmeters involve the calculation of an RS for each range and then using it with a
switch to enable range changes.
Manufacturers specify errors in their instrument using a concept of limiting error. The error that
an instrument makes on any range in the units of the quantity being measured is expressed as a
percentage of the full scale deflection. Thus if a 150V range has an error (limiting error) of 3%, then
it means that on any reading taken on that 150V scale an error upto 4.5V can be present on the
reading. This error does not include the effect of loading that such an instrument will produce in a
circuit which is an additional source of error.
Example Design a DC voltmeter to measure 150V range with a PMMC movement of resistance
2.4k and 50A full scale deflection current. If this voltmeter has a limiting error of 2% then find
its nominal reading and possible error when connected accross a 1M resistor in a circuit with an
input DC voltage of 150V and two series resistances of 1M and 2M .
Solution: Using (17), RS =150V/50e-6A - 2.4k = 3M - 2.4k = 2.9976M .
Voltage across the 1M resistor in the circuit without the voltmeter connected = (1/3)150 = 50V.
When the voltmeter is connected in parallel with the 1M resistor, then the parallel combination of
two resistances 1M from the circuit and 3M from the voltmeter reduces the effective resistance
to 0.75M . Hence the new voltage on the parallel combination is (0.75/2.75)*150 = 40.91V. This
is the nominal reading of the voltmeter.
The error due to loading is thus 50-40.91 = 9.09V. The error due to the limiting error of the voltmeter
= 2*150/100 = 3V. Hence total error possible on the nominal reading in the worst case is 12.09V.
Hence as a percentage on the nominal reading this value is (12.09/40.91)*100 = 29.55%. This is an
unduly high error. What can be done to reduce it? Increased sensitivity is a good way to improve
loading errors.

Sensitivity of a PMMC movement is defined as If1sd and is given the units of /V.
For the above example this value is 20k /V and so for a 150V range we have effective resistance
from the voltmeter as 150*20k = 3M . If instead of 20k /V the sensitivity was 100k /V then
for the same 150V range the effective resistance is 15M and the parallel combination of 1M of the
circuit with the voltmeters 15M gives us a effective resistance of 0.9375M and an effective voltage
measurement (nominal) of (0.9375/2.9375)*150 = 47.87V. The error due to loading is now 2.13V.
Assuming that the new voltmeter also has a 2% limiting error the worst case error on a nominal
reading of 47.87V is 5.13V (2.13 + 3) and the new percent error is 5.13*100/47.87 = 10.72% which
is almost 1/3 of the original error. To select a voltmeter therefore look for one with low limiting error
and with high sensitivity. Both these parameters are listed usually in the manual or specifications
data of the voltmeter.
To design an DC ammeter using a PMMC movement, a shunt resistance is added in parallel to
the PMMC movement as depicted in Fig. 6 The shunt resistance RSh can be obtained from:

Fig. 6.

Basic DC voltmeter from PMMC movement

IRange =

RM
If sd RM
+ If sd = If sd
+1
RSh
RSh

(18)

The voltage drop accross an ammeter at full scale deflection is often specified (sometimes as the
burden of the ammeter) often for each range. This value is
If sd RM = (IRange If sd )RSh = IRange

RSh RM
RSh + RM

(19)

Example: A 50A, 2.4k PMMC meter is to be made into a 1A ammeter. Calculate the shunt
resistance. If the limiting error of the ammeter on this range is 1%, then calculate the total error
possible when the ammeter is connected into the circuit shown in Fig. 7. R1=1 and R2=2

Fig. 7.

Circuit for ammeter loading effect

Solution: RSh calculation:

(IRange If sd )RSh = If sd RM (1 50 106 )RSh = 50 106 2400 RSh = 0.12

(20)

Loading error calculation: Effective resistance of the ammeter = parallel combination of RSh with
RM = 0.12 . Current flowing in circuit without ammeter=1A. With ammeter current flowing =
3/3.12 = 0.9615A. Hence loading error = 0.0385A.
Total Error = (Limiting error=1% 0.01A) + 0.0385A. Percent error = (0.0485/0.9615)*100 =
5.04%.
A clever design of a multirange ammeter is shown in Figure 8. The ranges are I1 < I2 < I3 . Given

Fig. 8.

Multirange ammeter

the ranges, the design equations for the resistances are:

(RM

RM If sd = (R1 + R2 + R3 )(I1 If sd ) (RM + R1 + R2 + R3 )If sd = I1 (R1 + R2 + R3 )

(RM + R1 )If sd = (R2 + R3 )(I2 If sd ) (RM + R1 + R2 + R3 )If sd = I2 (R2 + R3 )
+ R1 + R2 )If sd = R3 (I3 If sd ) (RM + R1 + R2 + R3 )If sd = I3 R3
(21)

This can be written concisely as:

(R1 + R2 + R3 )I1 = I2 (R2 + R3 ) = I3 R3 = (RM + R1 + R2 + R3 )If sd

(22)

Example: If the ranges are 1A,5A and 100mA and the PMMC meter has sensitivity of 50k /V
with an internal resistance of 1k , find R1 , R2 , R3
Solution: If sd = 20A. RM = 1k .
(R1 + R2 + R3 )0.1
R1 9R2 9R3
R2 4R3
50R3 0.1
R3

=
=
=
=
=

(R2 + R3 )1 = R3 5 = (1000 + R1 + R2 + R3 )20 106

0
0 R2 = 4R3 R1 = 45R3
(1000 + 50R3 ) 20 106 50R3 = 0.2 + 0.01R3 49.99R3 = 0.2
0.0040, R2 = 0.016, R1 = 0.18
(23)

10

XII. Alternating current (AC) waveforms

AC waveforms are characterized by the following quantities: peak voltage (Ip or Vp ), peak to peak
voltage (Ipp , or Vpp ), Root mean square (RMS) current or voltage (I or V ). Average voltage of most
AC waveforms is called the DC bias and is usually removed before discussing the peak/peak to peak
and RMS voltages.
RMS voltage or current for an AC waveform is defined as that value of an equivalent DC voltage or
current that produces the same heating effect in a resistor as the AC waveform. From this definition
it can be shown that:
s

1 T 2
v (t)dt
T 0
s
Z
1 T 2
i (t)dt
(24)
I =
T 0
For AC quantities the most useful measurement is RMS measurement. However, most instruments
are not designed to do this correctly except for sinusoidal AC waveforms. If an instrument measures
RMS values for an AC quantity irrespective of the shape of the waveform, such an instrument is
called True RMS instrument. However a large number of AC instruments are designed to work with
rectified AC waveforms and read the average value of the DC output of a full bridge diode rectifier.
Using the DC value read and assuming the type of AC waveform to be sinusoidal, a calibration curve
is used to convert the reading to RMS value. Thus, when the input waveform is not sinusoidal, then
such meters make errors in the conversion to RMS values and correction factors have to be applied.
Vp
For a sine waveform the rms value V =
, the DC value of the full wave rectified waveform is
2
2Vp
VDC = . For a square waveform the rms value V = Vp , the DC value of the full wave rectified
Vp
, the DC value of the full
waveform is VDC = Vp . For a triangular waveform the rms value V =
3
Vp
wave rectified waveform is VDC = 2 .
= 1.1107VDC , for square waveform V = VDC and for a triangular
For a sine waveform V = V2DC
2
=
1.1547V
waveform V = 2VDC
DC .
3
Example: If to full wave rectified (fwr) AC voltmeter of range 100V a triangular waveform with
a peak value of 50V is applied, then find the reading of the voltmeter and the percent error that
would result if this reading is taken as RMS value of the triangular waveform.
Solution: The DC value of the fwr triangular waveform = 50/2 = 25V. This DC value is multiplied
by the calibration value of 1.1107 by the meter and read as 1.1107 25 = 27.7675 = 27.77V. The
true RMS value of the triangular waveform is 503 = 28.8675 = 28.87V. The error is 1.1V and the
percent error = (1.1/27.77)*100 = 3.96%.
Loading effect of fwr AC voltmeters based on PMMC meter: Since the DC voltage from the
rectifier is read by the voltmeter, if a sinusoidal voltage of Vrange (RMS) is applied
to this voltmeter,
2 2Vrange
= 0.9Vrange .
then effectively the DC voltage producing fsd on the PMMC meter is given by

Therefore the effective resistance of this voltmeter on this range is 0.9SVrange where S is the sensitivity
of the PMMC meter.
AC ammeters of the fwr type are constructed by either inserting a resistance into the circuit
(resistive coupling) or by inductive coupling. In either case, the voltage across the resistor or the
coil is converted by rectification to a DC value which is read by the meter.
V

11

Fig. 9.

Basic AC fwr meters

12

XIII. Frequency Response

All AC instruments have a frequency response. The frequency range over which an instrument
operates is determined by many factors. Manufacturers specify the frequency response of their meters
in terms of graphs. The graph contains two pieces of information 1.) the magnitude frequency response
and 2.)the phase frequency response.
The magnitude frequency response typically has on its x-axis frequency. On its y axis, the
magnitude of the amplitude of the quantity measured as a sine wave by the instrument ratioed
to the amplitude of the input sine wave and expressed in decibels is plotted. The decibel measure
is defined as given below:


Vo
20 log10
(25)
Vin
The phase response at a frequency is measured in degrees and is defined as the phase shift of the sine
wave measured by the instrument vis-a-vis the input sine wave with negative values corresponding
to the measured quantity lagging the input quantity. A plot of such a response is given below:

Magnitude Response

5
0
5
10

dB

15
20
25
30
35
40 2
10

10

10

10
frequency (Hz)

Fig. 10.

Magnitude Frequency Response

10

10

13

Phase Response

0
20
40

degrees

60
80
100
120
140
160
180 2
10

10

10

10

10

10

frequency (Hz)

Fig. 11.

Phase Frequency Response

The measure of decibels is based on power and is defined as

dB = 10 log10

Po
Pin

(26)

using that output power and input power dissipated in a resistor R is given by Po = Vo 2 /R and
Pin = Vin 2 /R, the above equation can be reduced to (25) used earlier. Another unit which is used
in the RF (radio frequency) power is dBm (decibels referenced to 1mW into a 50 load). This is
defined with Po being calculated as the power dissipated at the output in a 50 load and expressed
in mW) as
!
Po (in mW)
dBm = 10 log10
(27)
1mW
XIV. Other AC meter types
True RMS voltmeters and ammeters digitally sample instantaneous voltage and current over a
period and using (24) and calculate the RMS voltage and current. In such voltmeters and ammeters,
a measurement of the voltage across a resistance (impedance) is used by the AtoD converter under
a digital processor control to carry out the sampling. The use of such an impedance does create
minimal loading effect in true RMS voltmeters and a bigger loading effect in true RMS ammeters.
Noisy waveforms can sometimes upset the period calculation internally and cause spurious results
in applying (24). In power electronic circuits and machine drive circuits with power electronic
components this is often a cause of malfunction of such voltmeters/ammeters. A suitable filter would
be necessary to remove such spikes in the waveforms.
Another class of AC instruments is the electrodynamometer type instruments which is a
modification of the PMMC coil movement. In this class of meters, the permanent magnet of the
PMMC movement is replaced by an electromagnet carrying a current in a fixed coil wound on a
material which is ferromagnetic. The current through this fixed coil if at the same frequency as

14

the moving coil produces an average torque which causes a deflection of the meter needle. If the
fixed coil and moving coil carry the same current I then the deflection is proportionate to I 2 .
Thus an electrodynamometer movement based ammeter has a scale which is a square law type. Such
movements can also be used to measure power in AC circuits (as well as in DC circuits). If the
fixed coil carries current proportional to that drawn by the load (I A) and the moving coil carries
a current proportional to the voltage (V V) across the load, then the average torque is proportional
to the power drawn by the load which is given by V I cos() W, where is the phase shift between
the current(I) and voltage (V) and cos() is called the power factor of the load.
XV. Ohmmeters
The basic circuit of an ohmmeter is as shown in Figure 12. The PMMC meter is calibrated to
read the value of the resistance across the terminals of the ohmmeter. the zero adjustment resistance
is used to offset the aging of the battery source and to ensure fsd current flows through PMMC
movement when the terminals are short circuited. The scale is nonlinear in ohmmeters. In better
quality digital instruments, the battery voltage is directly read off if using batteries or regulated if
using an ac source to power the device. The battery voltage is used to calculate the resistance by
measuring the current. Example: With reference to the above Figure, if the battery voltage is 1.5V,

Fig. 12.

Ohmmeter circuit

RS = 1k , RSh = 500 , If sd = 50A with RM = 2k , find RZ . With a 3k resistance across the

terminals find the current through the PMMC meter when using the RZ calculated earlier.
Solution: RM and RSh are in parallel and contribute an effective resistance of 2000*500/2500 =
400 . Hence with terminals short circuited we have
1.5400
400+RZ +1000

= If sd = 50 106 RZ = 4600
(28)
2000
With a 3k resistance across terminals the current through the meter is 33.33A.
If the battery ages and the voltage drops to 1.2V with the same value of RZ , calculate the current
through the PMMC meter when the 3k resistance is measured. (26.67A). If RZ is adjusted again
then find the new value of RZ when the battery voltage is 1.2V (RZ =3400 ). With this RZ what will
be the current measured by the PMMC meter with a 3k resistance across the terminals (30.78A)

15

XVI. OPAMPS and their applications

Opamps (Operational amplifiers) are linear integrated circuits packaged usually one or two in an
8 pin or 16 pin DIP package. It has many uses in practice in applications ranging from buffering
instrumentation signals to interface to computers and vice versa as well as in signal generation,
conditioning and amplification amongst others. In this course we will analyze and design some
common, simple opamp circuits using ideal assumptions. To denote that we are dealing with ideal
opamps the symbolism used is as shown in Fig. 13. The power supply connections are often not
shown. Typically the power supplies range from 12 to 15V. In this course even if I omit the symbol
of in the opamp figure, you should assume that the opamp is ideal.

Fig. 13.

Ideal opamp symbol in circuits

XVII. IDEAL OPAMP ASSUMPTIONS

The opamp output is given by V0 = K(V+ V ) where K is the gain of the opamp. For most
opamps the gain varies in the range 105 to 109 V/V range. Thus we will make the assumption that
K is . In the light of finite power supplies on opamps this has two implications. If there is no
feedback connections between output and inputs (-ve input) via components then V0 is either VCC
or -VCC based on the sign of (V+ V ). If on the other hand there is feedback between output and
input terminals then by considering V0 /K and taking the limits as K we have (V+ V ) =
0. The second assumptions that we make with respect to ideal opamps is that no current is drawn
by the opamp at its input terminals.
Applications of the assumptions to some simple circuits are carried out below:
Example 1: inverting amplifier: Since there is feedback in this case between the output and input
terminals, we have then the case V+ = V = 0 as V+ is grounded (to power supplies ground).
Hence we can now write the following node circuit equation at the - input terminal of the opamp
remembering that no current flows into the opamp input terminal.
0 Vin 0 V0
Rf
+
= 0 V0 = Vin
Ri
Rf
Ri

(29)

Thus this circuit acts as an inverting amplifier with gain given by Rf /Ri . Consider that an input
signal of 10mV is to be amplified to 1V with a current draw from the input signal limited to 10A
(max). The overall desired gain of the circuit is 1V/10mV = 100. Thus if we design each stage with
a gain of -10 then overall gain of 100 can be obtained in two stages. Since current drawn is to be
mv = 1k . Hence R for each stage
from input signal to 10A, then the input resistance is Ri = 10
f
10A
using the above gain expression is 10k .

16

Fig. 14.

Inverting amplifier

Fig. 15.

Noninverting amplifier

Example 2: noninverting amplifier: In circuit of Fig. 15 because of feedback, we have V = V+ = Vin .

The node equation at the -ve input terminal is now given by


Vin 0 Vin V0
Rf
+
= 0 V0 = 1 +
Vin
Ri
Rf
Ri

(30)

If we were to seek a design solution using the same conditions as before, then we can design the
circuit in a single stage with a gain of 100 by using Ri = 1k as before and Rf = 99k . Note that
in this case, since Vin is connected directly to the +ve input terminal of the opamp, no current is
drawn by the opamp through the input terminal and therefore the circuit draws no current from
the signal source but yet amplifies and supplies current to any appropriate load connected to the
output of the amplifier from the power supplies of the amplifier.
A special form of the non inverting amplifier is achieved when Rf = 0 and Ri = . In this case
we have a circuit with a gain of unity which because it draws no current from the signal source is
given the special name unity gain buffer. Its schematic is shown in Fig. 16.

17

Fig. 16.

Unity gain buffer

An interesting circuit is the differential amplifier, shown in Fig. 17. Since there is feedback to the
negative terminal, we have V+ = V = Va where Va and the output voltage V0 are to be determined.
Writing node equations (KCL) at the two input nodes of the ideal opamp we have the following
equations which can be manipulated by eliminating Va to the final form shown below:
Va V2
Va
+
Ri
Rf
Va V1 Va V0
0 =
+
Ri
Rf
0 =

V0 = K(V2 V1 )

where

K=

Rf
Ri

(31)

The differential input amplifier thus converts the difference of two input signals into an output signal
relative to the power supply ground. Thus floating input voltages where both input terminals have
a voltage relative to ground (i.e. neither input terminal is at ground) can be measured for example
on an oscilloscope where one input terminal of each channel is grounded by using the differential
amplifier stage in between the measurement points and the scope. Commercially integrated circuit
versions of the differential input amplifier are available as an instrumentation amplifier. Another

Fig. 17.

Differential input amplifier

common application of the opamp is to carry out mathematical operations such as integration. The

18

circuit in Fig. 18 is such an integrator. Since there is a feedback to the negative terminal the circuit
operates in the mode where V+ = V = 0 since V+ is grounded. Now applying KCL to the V
terminal we get:
Z
0 Vin
d
1
+ C (0 V0 ) V0 =
0=
Vin dt
(32)
R
dt
RC
If Vin = 1V, and R = 1M and C=1F and if VCC = 15V then the output voltage of the integrator

Fig. 18.

Integrator

falls as a ramp with a slope of -1V/sec until it reaches (ideally) -15V(VCC after which is stays
constant at VCC .
Consider the circuit shown in Fig. 19. Once again because of the negative feedback between output
and input terminal the circuit operates in V+ = V = 0V mode. The circuit equations are therefore
given by (the first order differential equation):
0=

0 Vin 0 V0
d
dV0
Rf
+ V0 = Vin
+
+ C (0 V0 ) Rf C
Ri
Rf
dt
dt
Ri

(33)

when Vin = 1for t 0 and = 0 for t < 0, then, since the voltage across the capacitor is zero at
time t=0 and cannot change instantaneously we must have V0 (0) = 0. At t = since the circuit is
R
R
0
= 0at t = which gives V0 (at t = ) = Rfi Vin = Rfi , (Vin =1V.) Fitting a
in steady-state dV
dt
t
curve to V0 (t) of the type A + Be where A, B, are constants to be determined, we can now find
R
V0 (t). We note that using the values of V0 (0) = 0 and V0 () = Vin Rf /Ri we get B = A = Vin Rfi .
using the general expression of V0 (t) with A, B as determined and substituting into the first order
differential equation of the circuit we get after some simplification:


t
Rf C
1 e = 0
(34)

Since the above equation holds for every time t, we must have (for example when t = 0), = Rf C.
Thus we obtain a complete characterization of the output voltage as a function of time when the
input voltage is a step in voltage.
Comparators: are opamp circuits which work with feedback to the positive terminal (no feedback
to the negative terminal) or without feedback to both input terminals. As the name suggests,
comparators take the difference of voltage at the input terminals of the op-amp (V+ V ) and put
out a voltage which is either VCC based on the sign of the difference of the voltage at the input
terminals.
We consider next an oscillator circuit shown below in Fig. 20. This circuit combines a comparator
with an integrator to produce a square wave output at the output terminal of the comparator and

19

Fig. 19.

Filter

a triangular wave at the output of the integrator. The circuit operation is understood as follows.
Assume that the comparator output is +VCC , the negative going integrator then produces a ramp
with a negative slope and hence the voltage at the bottom of resistor R2 continuously falls while
the voltage at the top of the resistor R1 connected to the output of the comparator remains at VCC .
The voltage at the junction of R2 , R1 whick is fed to the + input terminal of the comparator and is
compared with the 0V (GND) of the input terminal of the comparator, then eventually reaches a
value which turns negative. Consequently the comparator switches now to VCC at its output. The
ramp from the integrator now changes to a positive slope and the voltage at the bottom of R2 rises
while the top of R1 is at VCC . Once again, a time is reached when the junction of R2 , R1 changes
to a positive voltage value at which time the comparator switches again to VCC . Thus the circuit
continuously oscillates. (The circuits waveforms are seen by you in experiment 6 in the laboratory).
The circuit equations are now easily derived. Our goal is to find the frequency of oscillation, and

Fig. 20.

Oscillator

peak to peak voltage of the triangular wave. We proceed as follows: Assume that the top of R1
connected to comparator is at +VCC , and that the voltage needed at the bottom of R2 is V0int (t),
the voltage at the junction of R2 and R1 is given by
R2 VCC
R1 V0int (t)
+
(35)
R2 + R1
R2 + R1
2
This voltage reaches zero when V0int = R
V . At this time the comparator will switch to VCC .
R1 CC

20

A similar computation assuming that the top of R1 is at VCC gives the voltage at the output of
2
V . Thus
the integrator (at the bottom of R2 ) at which the comparator again switches as V0int = R
R1 CC
2R2
the peak to peak voltage swing of the integrator is R1 VCC .
CC
Now from the earlier study of the integrator circuit, we know that its output has a slope of VRC
.
Hence the time for the peak to peak swing of the integrator which is half the period of the oscillations,
is given by slope T2 = peak to peak swing of integrator. From this we can solve for the period T
and hence the frequency of oscillations f = 1/T as:
f=

R1
4R2 RC

(36)

Example: For the circuit in the lab manual in laboratory 6 (Fig. 4 of this laboratory 6. pg. 36)
R=1M, C=0.15F, R1 = 5.6k , R2 = 1k . Hence f = 9.33Hz. Component variations and nonideal
opamps make the actual frequency of oscillations close to 10Hz in the lab.
XVIII. Wheatstone Bridge
The Wheatstone bridge circuit (Fig. 21) plays a key role in instrumentation as it serves to provide
when it is unbalanced a small, sensitive voltage signal across its two arms (a, b in Fig. 21) which can
be amplified. Furthermore, the unbalanced state occurs only due to a differential change in resistance
pairs R2 , R3 . Common mode changes in all resistances does not unbalance the circuit. From DC
circuits course, the balance condition of the bridge is when R1 R3 = R2 R4 . In the unbalanced state,
the Wheatstone bridge is best studied using Thevenin equivalent circuit across the terminals a, b as
shown in Fig. 22 where

RT h

R3
R2

R1 + R2 R3 + R4
R1 R2
R3 R4
=
+
R1 + R2 R3 + R4

VT h = E

(37)

Example: Consider a Wheatstone bridge in which resistances R1 , R4 are 500 , resistance R2 and
R3 are strain gages with gage factor of 75. When R2 undergoes expansive stress, R3 undergoes
compressive stress by the same amount. Nominally under no stress conditions R2 and R3 are 500 .
The supply voltage to the bridge E is 10V. If the deflection of a PMMC meter connected across the
bridge with a full scale deflection current of 10A and a meter resistance of 1k shows a deflection
of 1A. Find the stress measured by the gages if the Youngs modulus of the material to which the
gages are coupled is 100MPa.
Solution: Assume R2 = 500+R and R3 = 500R where R is the change in the resistance of the
gages due to expansive stress for R2 and compressive stress for R3 . Then the Thevenin Equivalent
circuit across terminals a, b (as shown in Fig. 22) has parameters:
VT h
RT h

500 + R
500 R
1000R
R

= 10
= 10
=
2
2
1000 + R 1000 R
1000 (R)
100
2
1000 2(R)2
(500 + R)500 (500 R)500
+
= 500
=
= 500
1000 + R
1000 R
10002 (R)2

(38)

In the above simplifications we assume that 10002 is much greater than (R)2 . Now with the
1k resistance of the PMMC meter movement connected across terminals a, b of the bridge, the
current flow of 1A in the meter from the Thevenin equivalent circuit is given by
R
VT h
R
I=
= 100 =
= 1e 6
RT h + 1000
1500
15 104

(39)

21

Fig. 21.

Oscillator

Hence R = 0.15 . The assumption made earlier that 10002 is much greater than (R)2 is now
satisfied. Gage factor of a strain gage is defined as
G=

R
R

(40)
strain
Hence with G = 75, and the calculated R and R = 500 we get strain = 4e-6. Finally stress =
Youngs Modulus strain = 400Pa.
XIX. Digital Instrumentation
The principles of digital instrumentation are covered in the lab manual lab 6/7 and 8).
XX. Transducers
A transducer converts energy in one form into another form. The output form of energy that we
are interested in is of an electrical type for electrical instrumentation.
Strain gages studied in the lab along with Wheatstone bridge can be used to measure force, stress,
strain and by virtue of force measurement (weight measurement in the lab), they can also be used
to measure pressure and acceleration. From acceleration by signal processing (integration) one can
obtain velocity and by further integration position. Strain gages are characterized by gage factor
with metal gages having a low gage factor upto 16 and semiconductor gages having a high gage
factor upto 200.
Velocity measurements can be made by using transducers of the type studied in the lab in which
a slotted disc was used. Instead of a slotted disc, a disc with alternate bright and black bars can be
used with a photo-diode shining light on the disc and a photo-transistor used to pick up the reflected
light from the bright bars to obtain pulses which can be counted to obtain position or velocity. With
two such photo-diode and transistor arrangements mounted at right angles to each other and looking
at the phase shift of the pulses so obtained, it is possible to find the direction of the rotation of the

22

motor shaft. Optical encoders of this type are commercially available and commonly used in robotic
applications. In areas of high grime, such as in automobile engines, the engine speed is often found
by using a magnet with a coil mounted above the gears of the starter motor-flywheel interface. The
alternating proximity of the teeth of the meshed gears changes the magnetic flux in the coil and
generates pulses which can be amplified and counted to obtain velocity.
The Piezoelectric effect of certain crystals where a force applied to two sides of a crystal causes
a voltage (charge) build up on the other side or vice versa (alternating voltage causing the sides of
the crystal to expand/contract) can be used to convert up and down movements into an electrical
signal or vice versa to create ultrasound waves which can be used for ranging applications.
Flow measurements can be carried out by using a magnetic field around an insulated pipe where
if the fluid is ionic will cause a voltage signal to be built up due to the flow of the ionic fluid in the
magnetic field. This voltage is proportional to the fluid velocity. Classic approaches for measurement
of flow is venturi pressure manometers. The pressure imbalance detection can be carried out using
capacitive pressure transducers in which the capacitance changes due to pressure variations.
Temperature measurements are carried out usually by three means:
RTDs (Resistance temperature detectors): These usually have a resistance equation given by
R = R0 (1 + (T T0 )) where R0 is the resistance at temperature T0 (in K ). They are typically
used in a Wheatstone bridge configuration. Using data on the resistance values at T0 and another
temperature, can be easily calculated.
Thermistors: These are semiconductor based temperature detectors whose resistance falls with
increasing temperature. The equation governing the resistance-temperature relationship for
thermistors is usually given by
b
R = R0 e T
(41)
Thermistors are used in a Wheatstone bridge configuration to detect temperature by first finding
the resistance and using the above equation.
Thermocouples work on the Seeback effect in that when two dissimilar metals are connected
together at one end, then a voltage difference will exist between the open and closed ends if
the two ends are maintained at different temperatures. Thermocouples thus have an output in
voltage and a calibration curve of the temperature at the hot end relative to the cool end of the
thermocouple is usually provided by the manufacturer. The range over which thermocouples are
used is typically from -200 C to 1400 C . Above these ranges of temperature, optical methods
by examining the color of radiation emerging from the hot body is used to measure temperature
(optical pyrometry).
Example: Consider a thermistor with the following specifications at 20 C its resistance is 2000 and
at 200 C its resistance is 40 . Find R0 and b in Equation (41).
Solution: The two equations for the two unknows are: 2000 = R0 eb/293 and 40 = R0 eb/473 Calculating
b and then R0 from these equations we get: b = -3.012e3 K and R0 = 0.0686 .
XXI. Errors in Digital Instruments
Digital instruments measure quantities through transducers which convert the signal into an
electrical form. The action of transducing the quantity to be measured as usual introduces loading
errors (i.e. changes the quantity to be measured). Thus loading errors continue to be present in digital
instrumentation. Since each transducer has a frequency range over which it works best, the frequency
response of digital instrumentation is similar to that of analog instrumentation. The electrical signal
from the transducer is often signal conditioned into a pulse-width, or frequency or a voltage which
are either counted with a clock (high frequency square waveform compatible with logic levels of
appropriate logic gates and counters) or if signal is a voltage it is directly converted to digital form
using A/D converters. In both of these conversion processes, errors occur. The worst case error in
counting is 1.5T where T is the clock period. While with A/D converters due to rounding an error of

23

usually at least 0.5LSB is present. For a 8 bit A/D converter with a range of 0 to 5V the resolution
of the converter is 5V/256 (0.0195V)where the denominator is obtained by 28 . Hence 0.5LSB in this
case is approximately 0.01V error. If a 12 bit converter is used then the resolution is better. On the
other hand if the 8 bit converter is used in bipolar mode (-5V to +5V range) instead of the unipolar
mode (0 to 5V range) then the resolution is 10/256V and is twice that of the unipolar converter
and the error is correspondingly larger. Knowing that the error in count using the pulsewidth and a
clock can be upto 1.5T where T is the clock period, we can determine a clock rate. For example if a
5ms pulse-width is to be measured to an accuracy of 0.1% then we must have 1.5T= 0.1*5ms/100
= 0.005ms and hence the frequency of the clock for such a counter should be 300kHz.